


Give Me A Try

by sherlck (scienceofdeducjohn)



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Marvin is very insecure, Modern AU, School trips, Strangers to Lovers, Theme Parks, Whizzer has a daughter, accidental touching TM, also just assume whizzer is trans in this, and handholding, both their children go to the same high school, dad!whizzer, getting off on the wrong foot, he covers it up by being a dick sometimes, it's not explicitly mentioned but it's my hc so yeah, jason is not rude he's just oblivious, lots of fluff, pining Marvin, this is also sort of a character study on marvin but it's centered around whizzvin don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-08 20:37:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17988134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scienceofdeducjohn/pseuds/sherlck
Summary: Marvin first met the handsome Whizzer Brown in the principal's office after Jason had said some painful things to the man's daughter in class. The second and third time were not entirely left to coincidence.-Still standing in the doorway, he heard a pointed cough behind him and turned to the sound. An impressively tall man clad in an equally impressive tight pink polo stood with his hand outstretched, giving him the fakest smile he’d ever seen. “Jason’s dad? Whizzer Brown, and my daughter Shania.” Marvin offered his own hand quickly, introducing himself and his son. He made a half-hearted effort to not let his eyes drift to the man’s toned biceps which flexed slightly as he shook his hand.





	1. Rain Check

**Author's Note:**

> If you follow me on tumblr (@scienceofdeducjohn) you might have noticed that I've been obsessed with this fic for weeks. Ever since I watched this musical the pairing wouldn't let me go, so I decided to pour all that useless obsession into a fic. It's one of the longest but incidentally the easiest fics I've ever written; it sometimes feels like these two talk to each other and all I have to do is write it down... I love their dynamic so much. So I wanted to try and write a story where they met after they'd both changed a bit for the better; Marvin due to his divorce and Whizzer due to being a dad. I hope their characterisations make sense from that perspective. 
> 
> The second chapter is already written and only needs to be edited so you can expect it soon :)
> 
> Anyway, enough rambling. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing!  
> (Rated Teen and Up for some swearing.)

When Marvin got the call from Jason’s principal he hated to admit he wasn’t surprised. His son had been acting up more and more recently, both when he was with him and Trina. So to imagine him disrupting classes wasn’t as much of a stretch as he’d liked to believe.

“Of course, Mr. Sawyer, I’ll be there. Alright. Thank you.” He put his phone down with a sigh and proceeded to stare at his computer screen, mind recycling worries as usual. After he’d divorced Trina two years ago, he’d secretly hoped Jason would get easier to handle; after all, they would be rid of the horrible tension between Trina and himself. No such luck, though. If anything, Jason was using their splitting up to his advantage; guilt tripping them both into forgiving him too quickly for all kinds of annoying acts of frustration. Cordelia told him it would pass with puberty and all he had to do was wait it out. He huffed again as he remembered her advice. That was easy for her to say; she had no kids.

“Hey, Marvin?” He blinked, looking up to see his colleague give him a pointed look over her laptop screen. “Can you stop that?”

“Hmm?” He raised his eyebrows, then realized he had been absentmindedly tapping his desk with his pen. “Oh. Sorry.” He grimaced, pushing down the irritation that was quickly bubbling up in his stomach. He hated his grey-walled dreadsome prison of an office, hated his disinterested shallow colleagues, hated how they never said hello or asked how he was or commented on the picture of Jason he’d once proudly put on display in the corner of his desk.

He hated and he worried. This seemed to be an ongoing theme for his life.

 

In a surprising turn of events, Marvin arrived early for his appointment. Stopping by to pick up a grumpy Jason from detention, he followed him to the principal’s office. Of course, Jason was above greeting or even acknowledging his father’s tired greeting, so once they reached the office he grabbed his shoulders and spun him around to face him. “Now listen, son. I’m pretty disappointed in you. There’s no reason at all for you to pester your classmates because _you_ are bored or whatever, you hear? Not ever.”

Jason sighed and rolled his eyes, and Marvin clenched his jaw because that move reminded him of himself and he despised that. “I wasn’t pestering her.” He whined, aggressively shrugging his dad’s hands off his shoulders. “Everyone’s always exaggerating everything I do!”

Marvin opened his mouth to reply when the door to their left swung open, and Mr. Sawyer appeared. “Ah, Jason and Jason’s dad, I thought I could hear you. Now that both parties have arrived, let’s get to it, shall we?”

He felt the tips of his ears redden a bit. Had this guy just passive aggressively thrown shade at his parenting? Still standing in the doorway, he heard a pointed cough behind him and turned to the sound. An impressively tall man clad in an equally impressive tight pink polo stood with his hand outstretched, giving him the fakest sweet smile he’d ever seen. “Jason’s dad? Whizzer Brown, and my daughter Shania.” Marvin offered his quickly, introducing himself and his son. He made a half-hearted effort to not let his eyes drift to the man’s toned biceps which flexed slightly as he shook his hand, then where they crossed in front of his chest. “D’you mind?” And he pushed past him to sit down, equally annoyed daughter in tow.

Determined not to look embarrassed, Marvin forced a frown and followed suit.

“So,” Said Mr. Sawyer when they’d both settled, “We’ve called both of you since Shania here reported Jason for saying some things to her that were not very nice.” Marvin didn’t have to look over to his son to see him roll his eyes dramatically, but the principal wisely ignored this and asked, “Jason, would you like to explain your behaviour?”

“I didn’t say anything upsetting! This is all so boring.”

“Jason—” Marvin begun, but was cut off by the guy with the ridiculous name.

“My daughter didn’t lie. You said some pretty insulting stuff about our family, mister.” And God, it sounded so wonderfully snide and angry and Marvin was aching for a fight after the day he’d had —and for all his growth the last two years he still had such miserable impulse control sometimes.

“Oh please, can we just wait to hear what my son has to say?” He sneered, loving the way the guy’s nose scrunched up in annoyance.

“Gentlemen, please.” Mr. Sawyer sighed, but Marvin suddenly didn’t care about him. He kept his eyes trained on Mr. (Up)Tight Pink Polo, who was still glaring at him. (And whose chest was not distracting him in the slightest, thank you very much.) “Shania, can you tell us what Jason said to you?”

Shania crossed her arms, mirroring her dad in a way that Marvin didn’t want to find cute at all. “He said my dad hasn’t got a wife because he’s… a homo and he said I should see a psychiatrist.” Marvin’s heart plummeted at her words. Whizzer sucked in air quickly through his nose at the slur, and his eyes grew distant and moved to her instead, leaving Marvin to stare at the back of his head.

This right here was one of those rare moments where his mind abandoned him, and he swallowed hard before slowly turning back to his son, who shrugged at him. It occurred to him that maybe Jason actually believed he was right. Maybe he really hadn’t purposefully tried to hurt this girl, maybe he’d just tried to give her honest advice based on his own lousy experiences. Still, to hear that his own son had been off calling other people slurs, no matter how naive he was about the subject, had not been something he’d ever expected to happen. He’d sort of assumed that Jason would naturally know not to use terms like that. But then again, how could he have learned that if the words had been thrown around in their household on a daily basis up until a few years ago? Jason was still looking at him with questioning eyes, but Marvin was at a loss for words; he didn’t want to admit in this room all that had happened. But he didn’t know how to explain this to Jason without doing just that.

“Well.” Marvin avoided Mr. Sawyer’s eyes on him, leaving him to break the silence when it became apparent Marvin wasn’t going to think of anything useful to say anytime soon. “I think we can all agree that was very rude and uncalled for, Jason. In this school we don’t say these things to each other. This is very serious, you understand? We will not stand for hate-speech like this.”

“Hate speech? Really?” Jason demanded, “I was just trying to be a friend and tell her the truth! Tell them, dad!”

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Whizzer Brown’s eyes widen in shock, and he tried not to focus on that as he bit his lip and finally spoke to his son in the most careful voice he could muster. “Jason, you can’t say that to someone. First of all, you should never call someone a…” He cleared his throat awkwardly, “A… well, _that_ , that’s very impolite.”

“But mom says you’re _that_ all the time!”

And was this all some sort of cruel test or something, because this was really going from bad to worse. He clenched his jaw again at the distinct feeling of three sets of incredulous eyes burning into his back. A sweat was starting to break out onto his forehead. This was all _so very neat_.

“That’s different, okay? We know each other, we’ve… well, it’s different. It just is. You can’t say it to anyone else. Okay, kid?”

Jason frowned, utterly confused but apparently giving up (thank _God_ ) the fight. “Okay, I guess.”

“And you can’t go around telling people they need to see a psychiatrist!” Mr. Brown thoughtfully added before Marvin had the chance to bring it up. He couldn’t help but throw him an irritated glance.

“That’s right, Jason. You can’t.” He reinforced through clenched teeth.

“But… you told _me_ to see a psychiatrist when you were leaving mom! So when Shania said _her_ dad was leaving _his_ boyfriend I was just speaking from experience.”

Marvin stared at his son, who looked at him as if he’d grown a second head, and at least succeeded in pushing down the sudden upsetting urge to just start laughing. This was all so ridiculously coincidental the whole situation belonged in some sort of cruel and twisted sitcom. “Jason…” He started, grabbing his shoulder again and trying not to be hurt when Jason shrugged it off again, “You can’t tell people to go see a psychiatrist. It implies something pretty mean. Do you understand?”

Jason refused to look at him but thought it over for a moment before eventually replying. “Yeah…”

“Now can you apologize to Shania, please?”

He finally looked at the girl in question, fumbling with the sleeves of his shirt. “I’m sorry for telling you that you needed a psychiatrist, Shania.”

Shania nodded gravely, not shrugging off Whizzer’s hand where it lay securely against the back of her neck. Marvin swallowed down a wave of jealousy at the clear sight of intimacy between father and child and looked back at his own son.

“Very good.” Said Mr. Sawyer.

“And?” Marvin pushed, with a nervous glance to Whizzer.

“And sorry for calling your dad a… that word.”

Whizzer nodded, apparently satisfied, and Shania mumbled something about forgiving him after being prompted by the principal.

Mr. Sawyer then proceeded to give a short speech about their zero-tolerance policy and how Jason would be suspended if he managed to repeat his actions before finally dismissing them. Marvin didn’t need to be told twice, and hurried out the room. Shania and her dad weren’t far behind, clearly being just as done with the entire ordeal. In the hall, Marvin raked a hand through his hair and sighed in exhaustion; he realized he’d have to go and apologize to Brown, but he _really_ didn’t want to. Why did being a better person take so much damn work?

“So,” Marvin cleared his throat, catching the attention of the other man who’d been donning his stylish brown leather jacket, “look, I’m really sorry, Mr. Brown, I had no idea about any of this.”

“Whizzer. And thank you.”

Marvin blinked, and had to remind himself that that hadn’t been an insult, but rather his name. A grown person’s actual name. “It won’t happen again, really.”

Whizzer nodded, and Marvin finally looked up at him properly and was immediately hit with the thought that his eyes were the most beautiful he’d ever seen. A second passed. Then, a small smile. “That’s good to hear, Marvin. Can I call you--?”

“Yes. Of course.” And if it came out a bit too enthusiastically, Whizzer didn’t acknowledge it.

“Well, it is.” He took a breath and looked over his shoulder to his daughter. “Anyway, we gotta go. It was good talking to you, Marvin and Jason.” He gestured for Shania to come with him from where she’d been talking to Jason and with a wave, he was off.

“See ya.” Marvin said to his back, adding his name as an afterthought, “Whizzer.”

Whizzer held up his hand in acknowledgement, then let it land softly onto Shania’s shoulder.

“What was all that about?” Jason demanded sharply, shaking his dad out of his thoughts.

“What?”

Jason adopted a mockingly sweet smile and a gravelly voice in what was a poor attempt to imitate his dad, “ _See ya, Whizzer_.”

Marvin huffed. “I don’t talk like that.”

But Jason was already running to his locker, so he just scoffed to the ugly orange floor and followed him.

“He really said that?” Trina’s voice sounded incredulous from his phone.

Marvin grimaced and stroked his stubble as he paced the street in front of his office. The office was driving him crazy once again, so much so that he was now opting for calling Trina about their son’s misbehaviour instead of working on his client’s project. “Afraid so. He said it had something to do with you occasionally calling me that. I guess he picked up on it.”

“Oh, that’s awful. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize…”

“It’s okay.” Marvin felt surprisingly calm. Ever since they’d separated he could stand her so much more, felt so much less inclined to fight her on every single little detail. He couldn’t lie; he missed having an outlet for his frustrations pretty often. But he was slowly starting to realize Trina had never deserved that. Him, for that matter. Any of it. However good he’d thought his intentions had been. “It’s my fault too. We never talked to him about it.”

They were silent for a second. “I’ll make sure to keep an eye out on his language.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“And I’ll ask Ms. Santiago if he’s been any trouble in his other classes this Wednesday.”

Suddenly, Marvin’s interest was piqued. “Wednesday? This Wednesday? There’s a parents conference?” Trina made an affirmative noise, and he didn’t know why he said his next words, but they were out of his mouth before he could think the better of it, “You know Trina, it’s not like you always have to go to those. I could go too, if you’re busy.”

“I don’t know, Marvin. I’ve always done these kinds of things.”

He took in a deep breath and already regretted his next words. “I’m his father too, you know.” It came out meaner than he’d intended, but it did the trick.

“Fine. Just let me know how it goes, okay? And remember to be on time.”

“Of course, Trina. I’m not a complete idiot.”

Marvin decided to ignore the noise Trina made that suggested otherwise.

 

He was late to the parent teacher conference, because of course he was. Because of traffic and because of work and because of any number of excuses he told himself. As he slammed shut the door of his car and hurried through the entrance doors, he heard a familiar sharp voice call out his name behind him, followed by the sound of the door falling shut. “Marvin!”

When he placed it, he felt his treacherous heart jump to his throat. He looked back and sure enough, there was Whizzer Brown flashing him a nervous grin as he jogged up to him.

Failing to produce sound beyond a surprised gasp, he cleared his throat. “Whizzer. You late too?”

Whizzer raised his eyebrows and gestured as if to say, _clearly I am_ , but his smile was friendly enough. “Please tell me you know what room we were supposed to be in –” He checked his watch and grimaced, “ten minutes ago.”

“Seven, actually.” Marvin corrected offhandedly, immediately regretting the snobby tone. Whizzer just rolled his eyes. “And I think we’re in? Two fourty-one?”

“You better be right.” He made a sudden left turn at that and started up the stairs two steps at a time.

“Hey, wait for me!”

“No time, old man! I gotta make up for lost time!”

Marvin paused halfway, already panting. “Hey! Did you just call me old?”

He only heard the sound of laughter, Whizzer having completely disappeared from view now, which was also the reason Marvin allowed an embarrassingly wide grin to spread over his face.

“Marvin! You coming or what?”

Snapping up his head, he saw Whizzer had reappeared and was hanging over the railing one set of stairs above him, impatience visible in the creased lines on his forehead but smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“I am! Just… Jesus, how are you so fast?”

It was rhetorical, but Whizzer apparently felt it was called for to answer him in a smug tone, “Racquetball. It does wonders for your stamina.” And either Marvin’s embarrassing horniness was playing tricks on him or Whizzer had just actually _winked_ at him. Either way, he had disappeared before Marvin could respond. Once again, he chased after him.

“Hi! So sorry we’re late.” Whizzer announced upon opening the door before strutting towards a free pair of chairs in the middle row. Marvin answered the teacher’s tight smile with an apologetic one of his own, refusing to let his chest tighten at the realization that Whizzer had specifically picked two empty chairs directly next to each other.

Mrs. Santiago resumed her speech, but it wasn’t much use in Marvin’s case. His eyes drifted to Whizzer and remained there for the majority of the following fifteen minutes. Then again, who could blame him? He was wearing a seagrass green dress shirt today, just as tight as the polo had been. The top two buttons had been casually undone, revealing smooth skin underneath. As he shifted to lean back and cross his arms, the fabric strained against the bulk of his biceps. And his hair… God, his hair. He wanted to run his hands through it, undo the carefully styled waves and discover if it was as soft as it looked. And beneath… those brown eyes. It was with shock that Marvin realised they were staring directly at him, one eyebrow raised in question. Feeling a slight brush creep onto his cheeks, he scoffed at him in defiance but turned back to the teacher all the same. _Shit_. Had he really just been caught staring at some pretty boy, like some sort of lovesick teenager? And damn it, he’d missed half Mrs. Santiago’s monologue. That was just great. How was he ever going to get more involved in Jason’s school life if he couldn’t even do anything as simple as listening to his teacher?

When she finally wrapped it up and declared it was time for everyone to go to their one on one teacher appointments, Marvin stood up quickly and avoided Whizzer’s gaze.

“So who are you going to talk to?” Turned out, once you were lucky enough to get the popular boy to sit next to you, it wasn’t as easy to walk away. “I’m off to speak to Mr. Grimaldis. Not to brag, but Shania’s been nothing but exemplary in all her classes, except of course her philosophy class. She got an F for refusing to complete a mandatory essay. Claims she was protesting some social injustice matter.” He chuckled.

“Oh.” Marvin barked a tired laugh, “Really.” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his khakis.

 “Hey, for all your ogling not two minutes ago you’re being pretty shy all of a sudden.” At that, he finally met his eyes; they were twinkling mischievously.

“What?” Marvin sputtered, “I wasn’t _ogling_ you!”

“Yeah right. My _biceps_ aren’t convinced.”

“I was just… What, am I—Am I not allowed to look at you?”

Whizzer adjusted his collar and took a step forward. Marvin stood his ground. “Oh, you are.” He brushed past him with a sly grin and headed to the door with a spring in his step. “All this working out would just be a waste, otherwise.”

Marvin huffed out a laugh and shook his head, perplexed with the ease with which Whizzer talked and carried himself… so sure of himself, almost to the point of arrogance. He envied that. No, he corrected himself, it was much worse: he admired it.

“See you in ten.” Whizzer said, and disappeared out the room.

The ten minute session Marvin – or rather, Trina – had scheduled was with Mrs. Santiago, who had been given the heavy task of acting as Jason’s counsellor. She seemed to forgive him for being late once he’d made up an excuse, although he couldn’t be sure if she believed him. She also told him Jason had apparently been doing surprisingly well at school, save for the one incidence with Shania, at least to his standards: he hadn’t been late as much as last semester, and he was scoring pretty high on his exams now that he was actually putting in the least of effort. The only thing she seemed concerned about was nothing new: he still hadn’t made any friends, despite having joined the baseball team a few months ago. Marvin, already knowing exactly how the conversation would go (namely, just like the previous six times they’d discussed it), promised her to talk to him about it. He also made a mental note to finally sit down with Trina and have a real discussion about this sometime soon. Based off Jason’s behaviour at home with him, he was surprised but relieved when he realized Mrs. Santiago seemed to wrap up the conversation after nine minutes, apparently there being nothing else worth discussing.

“I’m so glad to hear that he’s doing so well.”

“Are you surprised?”

“Well… it’s only been two years… To be honest, he’s terrible at home with us sometimes. I thought it was because of the divorce. But it sounds like he’s doing so much better at school ever since.”

Mrs. Santiago regarded him thoughtfully, taking the time to phrase her words carefully. “Every child reacts differently to an excess of emotional stress. Sometimes they take it out on their peers, sometimes on themselves, their parents.”

Marvin let out a harsh breath through his nose at the latter.

“But sometimes that stress doesn’t stem from the divorce. Sometimes it’s a result of the ever present tensions between the parents _before_ the divorce. That stress can take up quite a lot of energy. But now it’s gone, and he can spend some more of that energy participating in school. Maybe he still acts out to you as parents, but what boy doesn’t, at that age? It’s part of growing up.”

Marvin hummed, thinking of himself at age twelve. He certainly hadn’t been much better than Jason, not by a long shot. Even though his parents hadn’t had the loveliest of marriages and hadn’t given him as much attention as he’d needed, they certainly hadn’t fought every single day, hadn’t caught each other cheating, hadn’t hidden their true selves from each other. Not to the extent they had done ( _he_ had done). He knew this. Of course he did, but most of the time he did quite a good job at pushing the voice that told him all this and more to the back of his head. Now that he was forced to confront Mrs. Santiago’s words, he once again felt a familiar wave of guilt crash over him. For all those years. All those awful years he’d been directly and effectively making Jason’s life miserable. “Well, that’s true.”

He suddenly felt the absurd need to be consoled by someone.

 

As Marvin turned the corner into the main hall, he quickly spotted Whizzer talking to another parent. He hesitated briefly whether or not he should intrude on their conversation, but Whizzer looked up and smiled at him when he drew nearby.

“Hey.”

“Marvin, meet Maureen! Maureen, Marvin.”

She shook his hand, eyes lighting up at the mention of his name. “Oh! Do you mean _the_ —”

But she was cut off abruptly by Whizzer, who made a loud unintelligible noise and shot her a sharp look.

“Anyway!” Maureen said, apparently realizing her mistake, whatever it had been, “I’m off to my girlfriend’s. Don’t want to be late for dinner! It was nice to meet you, Marvin.”

Marvin mumbled a goodbye, and Whizzer bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek, after which she turned on her heels. And then she was gone, leaving Marvin to stare at her back in confusion at her sudden retreat.

“Yeah, there are more than two gay parents at this school. Who would’ve known!” Whizzer commented cheerfully to break the silence, probably addressing his dazed expression.

“I just… I’d never considered the possibility.” Admitting this somehow felt like revealing a very personal secret, but he really did not have the energy to dive into the question _why_. Which was why he was grateful that Whizzer just cocked his head and gave him a thoughtful look. He cleared his throat. “So, how did it go with Mr. Grimaldis?”

“Oh! It went well. He agreed to give her another chance. Which leaves me to convince her to actually write the damn thing. That’s going to be quite the challenge, let me tell you.”

Marvin chuckled. “That’s good.”

“And what about you, did Mrs. Santiago forgive you for barging in on her lecture?”

“I’m not sure. I honestly couldn’t tell if she bought my excuse.”

“What’d you tell her?”

He waved a hand dismissively. “Something about a doctor appointment.”

“Hmm.” Whizzer nodded, lips tight and eyebrows raised, obviously deeming the excuse to be inexcusably lazy.

“What would you have told her?” Marvin took the bait, and if he sounded defensive he blamed it on the guilt still sitting heavy in his stomach.

“Easy. Dying family member. That way even the idea of suspecting it as being a lie would be incredibly disrespectful, even if the chances of it being true are incredibly slim.”

Marvin barked out a surprised laugh, but Whizzer kept talking.

“Of course, that way she wouldn’t even come close to speculating about the truth.”

“Which is?”

“Honestly?” Whizzer lowered his voice, “I was in bed watching Tony’s reruns on YouTube until my daughter asked me if I didn’t have anywhere to be.”

They stared at each other for a heartbeat, and the next they were both giggling. “God.” Marvin managed, his face in his hands and shoulders shaking. “We are terrible. Truly terrible dads.”

“Speak for yourself.” Whizzer laughed, but there was no trace of malice in his voice as he touched Marvin’s arm. Electricity trickled through his sleeve and led him to look up at him properly again. He was beautiful like this; he seemed to radiate pure joy. In that moment, Marvin wanted nothing more than to lean in and kiss him on the lips. He quickly shot down that line of thought, though he couldn’t stop his laughter from fading into a smile. He only hoped it didn’t look as sappy as it felt.

“Well.” Whizzer broke the moment with a sharp intake of breath, “I guess I gotta head on home.”

And Marvin did not remember giving his mouth permission to say the words, “Have you even eaten? We could grab dinner somewhere.”

Whizzer’s friendly smile contorted into an apologetic grimace at his words, and he looked genuinely sorry as he responded. “Ah Marvin that’s really sweet, but I kind of left Shania at home, alone. I gotta—”

“Oh! No! It’s okay, I didn’t expect, I just thought, but it’s—”

“Really, I wish I could—”

He averted his eyes, shaking his head. “It’s… never mind.” God, he felt so stupid. He wished he could take it back. He wished the floor would disintegrate beneath his feet, after which he could shrug his shoulders as if to say “ _well, guess that was it. We had a kind of good run I guess, but now apparently it’s time for me to go and never embarrass you ever again_ ” and fall into some dark pit, the ugly linoleum sealing up above him to leave no trace of him.

But instead of that, Marvin swallowed heavily and Whizzer stared at his shoes before looking at him from under his brow, expression dangerously close to what could be described as a pout. “Rain check?”

 _It’s an excuse. He’ll never take you up for it_ , he reminded himself, but felt a small spark of hope somewhere deep within himself all the same. He risked a tentative smile and nodded. “Okay.”

Whizzer nodded back at him, returning the smile. “Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos for anyone who caught all five (5) references here!
> 
> I thrive on comments so please let me know if you enjoyed it down in the comments or on tumblr (@scienceofdeducjohn) ! <3


	2. Thrill Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A school trip featuring two (2) dads hopelessly falling for each other, one of which is an awkward grumbling idiot and the other a stylish pretty boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to post this story in 3 chapters but I'm halfway through editing now and realized chapter 2 would be more than twice the length of chapter 1, so this is now officially a three-part mini-opera instead of two! Also I just really wanted to post the second chapter lol  
> Anyway, hope you enjoy!

“Dad, mom’s asking if you can come on the school trip to Six Flags next week.”

Marvin pinched the bridge of his nose. Twelve hours trapped with dozens of overly energetic sweaty teenagers didn’t sound like an ideal way to spend his Friday. On the other hand, he had promised himself to work on his relationship with his son, and if he managed to be seen as a cool dad by his peers that could drastically alter the image his son had of him. On the _other_ other hand: screaming kids all around him.

“She says she’s always the one doing school things so it’s your turn.” Jason pressured him, sounding incredibly bored and like he already suspected what his answer was going to be.

“I… I don’t know, Jason.”

“Whatever. Shania’s dad is going to come and he’s more fun anyway.”

“Hey!”

And he swore he could hear Jason’s eyes rolling into the back of his skull. “I mean at those kind of things, dad. You never wanna do any of the rides!”

Okay, fair point. “Wait a minute. Did you say Shania’s dad?” A slideshow of possibilities projected itself into his mind; Whizzer chaperoning the kids, Whizzer licking an ice cream cone, Whizzer in another one of his tight shirts.

“Yeah, I _just_ said that.”

Whizzer consoling a frightened kid after a wild rollercoaster ride, Whizzer winking at him again like _that_.

“Dad?”

He shook himself and replied before he could think better of it. “Fine! I’ll go.”

 

That entire week was spent in varying degrees of worry and excitement about seeing Whizzer again. Marvin wasn’t really sure how to deal with it. For the most part he tried to ignore the feelings, attempting to distract himself with work, laundry, dinner, anything. But sometimes he couldn’t stop his thoughts from drifting to him, his chest constricting as he made up all kinds of conversations and scenarios that would probably never happen. It was only when he woke up on that doomed Friday feeling his stomach twisted around itself in anticipation, that he realized he’d never felt so strongly for anyone so quickly. Which did absolutely _fuck_ - _all_ to calm him down.

At approximately 6am he found himself lost in thought as he stood in front of his closet full of worn down sweaters and faded button downs, left arm hugged tightly across his stomach and chin resting on his right hand.

“Dad? Can you bake pancakes?” Jason’s shrill voice greeted him before the boy appeared in his room. He’d come to his apartment two days early in preparation for the special occasion, and like always, he was out of bed and wide awake way earlier than any other normal twelve year old. Usually that meant he’d barge into Marvin’s bedroom who, up to that point, had been fast asleep and lost in blissful dreams of murdering his colleagues. But not today. Jason frowned at the sight of his father being out of bed already, “What are you doing?”

He reflexively ruffled the boy’s hair as he moved to stand next to him, noticing with disdain he probably hadn’t washed it since Monday. “Nothing. Just picking out something to wear.”

“Since when do you care what you wear?”

Marvin cleared his throat, adopting an innocent tone. “I’ve always put thought into what I wear!” But judging by the look Jason was giving him, even he was apparently seeing straight through him. That was just great. He was just thankful that he wasn’t old enough to put two and two together and figure out his father was… he had… what, exactly? A crush? Was this what a crush should feel like? No, Marvin decided, it was best not to follow that train of thought.

“So… pancakes?” Jason smiled up at him, obviously in an attempt to manipulate his father, but this time Marvin didn’t care.

“Sure, kid. _If_ you wash your hair before we leave.”

While he ran to the bathroom, Marvin pulled out the least faded blue jeans he could find and laid it out on his bed next to a simple black t-shirt. In the back of his closet he finally found that black leather jacket he’d once bought on impulse and always thought he’d really been too old to wear. He hated for it to go to waste, though, and he guessed it was now or never.

 

In the car, Marvin congratulated himself on succeeding in convincing Jason his excessive tapping of the steering wheel was due to the sugar from the pancakes they’d had for breakfast, and soon Jason was obliviously telling him all about his annoying classmates. They were all either boring or mean or stupid except for…

“Shania’s actually interested in chess! She’s probably the only one in the entire school who wants to play with me. I think I’ll sit next to her on the bus and maybe we’ll walk through the park together when you guys let us go.” Marvin melted a little at the sight of his son’s eyes lighting up with excitement while he talked about his classmate. He scratched the back of his neck where the label of his jacket kept irritating his skin. He was feeling less and less sure about the choice, but there was no going back now. So he sat and listened, dutifully supplying the necessary hums and nods when expected, until they pulled onto the school’s parking lot.

“Okay, Jason. Got your bag with your lunchbox and phone?” He turned to his son, only to see him already bouncing out of the car without so much as a ‘goodbye’. Marvin took a moment to let out a frustrated sigh before he hurried out the car and after him, Batman backpack in hand. “Jason!”

He came to regret this decision, though, when he collided spectacularly with a thrown open car door that had materialized out of thin air and the man halfway through climbing out of it. “Ow!” The man yelped as Marvin let out a, “Fuck!” and fell over, catching himself on the edge of the car door, thereby effectively trapping the man in between it and his torso. He hastily pushed himself back onto his feet, still feeling the phantom pressure of a head pressed against his chest at what must have been an awfully awkward angle.

“Well Marvin, you could have just said you were excited to see me.” And oh shit, oh _shit_. Of course it had to have been Whizzer, of all the people he could have quite literally run into.

He felt a blush spread over his face as he properly looked at the man. He didn’t look hurt as much hurt as bemused, and he caressed his red cheek with a smirk. Marvin marvelled at the way he seemed completely dignified as if he hadn’t been violently shoved against a car door five seconds ago. “Whizzer,  I – _shit_ , I didn’t see you there. Did I hurt you?”

“Please. What fun is life if you’re not occasionally shoved against a door every now and then by another man?”

And was that… Did he just…? Marvin let out a surprised laugh, looking away as he took care to recompose himself. He looked back up to see Whizzer donning his own brown leather jacket and slamming the door shut, and wondered where the hell he’d got the courage to say, “Well…Anytime.” He swallowed down the regret.

That got Whizzer’s attention; his eyes snapped to Marvin’s, and he threw him a sly smile as he gave him a once-over. “Duly noted.”

With that, Whizzer turned around and started towards the bus, holding out his hand for Shania who came running. Marvin sucked in a breath between his teeth and followed him.

Mrs. Santiago waved them over when they reached the bus, and when Whizzer let go of Shania, Marvin saw her run over to Jason. His face lit up as soon as he spotted her as if he’d been looking for her, and he let out a breathless laugh in relief at the sight. It seemed like Jason had a friend. An actual real life human friend.

The teacher explained that, since her colleague had called in sick, the two were going to have to accompany the bus with Jason and Shania’s class while she herself would be in the other class’ bus. “It’s not a particularly tricky class, although they’re still teenagers. So, you know…” She trailed off and chuckled, “But I’m sure you can handle it. After all, Whizzer’s got some experience.” The intonation of an inside joke was not lost on Marvin as she smiled at Whizzer, who laughed in response.

“What can I say? The kids love me.”

“That they do. Well, I’m off to the other bus. Here’s your attendance sheets and your programmes,” She handed them both a small stack of paper, “and I’ll see you there!”

“Great! Good luck in there with _8b_.” Whizzer said, and she laughed again and waved.

“Thanks!” Marvin added, feeling more than a bit out of place. He busied himself by thumbing through the sheets, seeing black and white photographs of the children with their names underneath, a list of names with checkboxes next to them, the time schedule they were expected to stick to…

“So,” Whizzer drawled, pulling his attention back to him, “I hadn’t really expected _you_ to show up today.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shrugged. “Just that even if Jason’s parents are here it’s usually Trina and occasionally Mendel. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you go on this type of thing. Hell, I don’t even think I knew that you really existed before that fun little visit to the principal two weeks back.”

“Oh, right.” Marvin wanted to toss back a clever retort, a sharp-witted response justifying the reason he hadn’t ever publicly shown interest in his son’s progress at school. The thing was, though, there was none. There was only one lame, depressing reason. Which was simply that he’d been a goddamn selfish idiot for years.

Clearly, Whizzer wasn’t satisfied with his response either, because he shifted from foot to foot and finally opened his mouth to respond, so Marvin cut him off; he wasn’t exactly hyped to talk about his short-comings as a father to the very man he was beginning to like. Which was why he panicked and said the first thing that came to mind.

“So you met my ex?” He cringed internally at his own words. Neat idea, Marvin, just the topic to bring up with _that very man_.

“Trina?” Whizzer raked a hand through his hair, surprised, “Yeah, I met her a few times. She was nice.” He smirked suddenly, which did absolutely nothing to soothe Marvin, “Although according to what she sometimes let slip, I have to admit I always thought you were a pretty bad person. And not in a sexy bad boy kind of way.”

Marvin rubbed his neck again. “Well, she was probably right.” He took a deep breath and wondered why it was so easy to keep talking about his deeply personal life to this relative stranger, “When we were still married we were less than good for each other. We never really made sense, but I guess we were too busy fighting to notice.”

Whizzer touched his arm. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. Can’t do anything about it now.” He shrugged, content in the realization that in that instant, he fully believed his own words. “And by the way, I’m offended that you don’t think I’m sexy.”

Whizzer’s mouth fell open in surprise, and he stared at him for a second with crinkling eyes before throwing his head back to let out a sharp laugh.

“Dad!” Marvin tore his eyes off of Whizzer to see Jason walking over, and he finally remembered he was still clutching his bag.

“Oh, Jason, you forgot your backpack. Here you go.”

“Hi, Whizzer!”

Whizzer grinned at him and gave him a little excited wave, effectively making Marvin’s heart twist with emotion. “Hey, Jason!”

Slinging his bag onto one shoulder, Jason extended his hand to present to his dad a small folded piece of paper. “Shania asked me to give you this.”

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Whizzer’s eyes grow wide. “Oh, Jason, that won’t be necessary anymore, I –”

“Let me see that!” Marvin snatched the piece from his son’s hand, brushing past Whizzer’s grabby fingers in the process. “Thank you, Jason.” He saw his son bouncing off again and turned his head to grin victoriously at Whizzer before making a show of opening the note and clearing his throat.

“Marvin, still need to…” He trailed off as he read ahead, blinking in surprise and suddenly slightly dizzy with the implications.

 _Marvin, still need to take you up on that rain check._  
This Saturday sound good? Call me -  
xx Whizzer

A phone-number was scrawled haphazardly underneath. Marvin stared at it, only realizing he was still grinning widely when he felt Whizzer’s eyes on him and he finally looked up at him again. He was biting his lip and watching him expectantly, hands clutched behind his back. “Well?”

“Well, it sounds like the handsome man I met some two weeks ago invited me on a date this weekend.”

“Oh?” Whizzer crossed his arms, playing along with his little game. “Should I be jealous?”

“I rather think you should. He’s really very pretty, you know.” Then he whipped out his phone, fumbling with the password, heart racing as he opened the texting app.

 _It’s a date_.

Whizzer, phone already in his hand, rolled his eyes at him with a smile as he read the message.

A heartbeat of silence passed, and as Marvin watched his smile he felt something dangerously much akin to butterflies flutter around in his chest, so he cleared his throat. “Now I think our students are waiting for their chaperones to finally get on the bus and take them to the rollercoasters already.”

Following his gaze to the group of impatient teenagers congregating at the door of the bus, Whizzer turned around and started toward them. “Alright everybody, who’s ready to go to Six Flags?” He shouted over the excited chatter, eliciting a cheer from the group. “Alright then, form a line and tell me your name as you get on the bus. The quicker you do, the sooner we’ll all be eating ice cream on the Drop of Doom!”

With a pang of equal jealousy and admiration at the happy compliance he was somehow getting out of these kids, Marvin sauntered over to stand uselessly at his side.

 

The bus ride was mercifully uneventful, and was largely spent talking and partly in amicable silence. When Marvin pulled out his copy of Hamlet after an hour of surprisingly enjoyable small talk, Whizzer made a face. “Really? Shakespeare?”

“What?”

“Don’t let the kids see you with that, they’ll eat you alive.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know Shakespeare can be read and, believe it or not, _enjoyed_ by anyone. I bet if you gave it a try, you’d like it more than you’d think.”

Whizzer gave him a disbelieving look, and went back to posting a picture on his Instagram page, or whatever social media it was he was fixated on. “You’re such a nerd.”

Marvin opened his mouth to fight him on that when he caught his gaze; he was looking at him from the corner of his eyes, lines underneath crinkling in amusement. So he just closed it in favour of pointedly opening his book, thinking, _two can play at this game_.

The silence was only broken when they pulled onto the parking lot, and Whizzer poked him with his elbow. “Can you talk to them?”

“What, me? I thought you were the appointed stand in teacher for today.”

Whizzer rolled his eyes in a dramatic fashion and all but shoved him out of his seat. “Come on, I wanna see you scrambling in front of them.”

Marvin swatted him with his book, but complied. “Alright then, but only because you asked so nicely.” He ignored the sweet smile and turned to the busload of kids, taking a deep breath while he tried not to make eye contact with Jason, who was probably sliding down his seat in embarrassment. After several tries, he got their attention – no matter how amused Whizzer was sitting there, distracting him with his pretty face propped onto his fist to watch him. “Listen up, everyone. We’re going to go out the bus, meet up with the other class, and then form an orderly line so we can check that everyone’s here. So just, when you get out, don’t go wandering off by yourself. And please don’t forget to take your bags and throw the trash in the bin by the door. Got it?” When he got no reaction he threw up his hands, muttering to himself, “Whatever. I tried.” Then he turned to Whizzer, gesturing at him for help.

“Okay everyone,” He got up to stand next to him, throwing him a look as if to say _watch and learn_ , “did you hear what Mr. Marvin said? We’re leaving the bus and walking to the park, _together_. Is that clear?”

A scattering of whoops and affirmative answers made Marvin sigh in defeat.

Whizzer turned back to him when they’d ushered everyone out, positively glowing with arrogance, “You’re welcome.” And the worst part was, he was so damn attractive when he was like this, excited and completely in his element and with all of his focus on Marvin. Marvin, who wanted nothing more than to harshly kiss that smug smile away.

“Yeah.” He hadn’t meant for it to come out quite so hoarse and quiet and damn _needy_ though, so before he could see Whizzer’s reaction he pushed past him to grab his bag and all but fled off the bus.

Mrs. Santiago had somehow already managed to get the two groups of students together and relatively quiet, and was currently explaining their schedule. “—which means as soon as we enter the park, you’re free to go so long as you pair up with three or more, okay? And like I said, we’ll meet for lunch at the fountain near the entrance at noon. Not twelve-thirty, _noon_. Alright? Now follow me.”

Suddenly finding himself needing a break from Whizzer, Marvin quickly jogged up to where she was leading the small procession, knowing Whizzer would have no choice but to make up the rear. He didn’t look back. “Can I ask you a question? The kids love you. And when you talk, they actually listen. How do you do that?”

She shrugged at him, with a proud tilt of her head. “I’m told I have a natural presence that demands respect.”

Marvin chuckled, desperate for her to keep talking lest his mind fill itself with Whizzer again. Whizzer and his games and his teasing and the confusing feelings he made him feel.

“No, it’s actually due to years of hard work. Lots and lots of difficult years, and lots of embarrassment, to be honest.”

“Well, I got to say, I admire that. I wouldn’t have enough discipline in a million years, so I’d never be able to do it.” And his treacherous mouth added before a second thought, “As opposed to Whizzer: he seems to have a way with kids.”

She regarded him for a moment, as if assessing some subtle implication of his words, but she seemed to just as quickly dismiss it as she looked back ahead with a brief shake of her head. “He really does. I’m sometimes jealous of that, you know. I love this job and I worked so hard to always have control over the kids, the parents, the situation…”

“And he walks into the room and immediately draws all of that to himself, without having to lift a finger.” Marvin finished the thought for her, upon which she sighed.

“I mean, I know I’m still a better teacher than people like him will ever be. I work my ass off, and he doesn’t. But still, it seems unfair that some people seem to get it all… The talent, the attention, the looks…”

He huffed a laugh. “I know.”

“And yet, I adore him as a friend.”

Marvin finally risked a look over his shoulder, and was relieved to see Whizzer looking down at some kid’s smartphone and acting very amused at whatever dumb kitten video they were probably playing. He smiled involuntarily. “It’s hard not to.” For a second, he felt embarrassed telling another person the simple fact that he liked Whizzer Brown. The next, he saw Whizzer run a hand through his hair, toned arms damn near glinting in the bright sunlight, and the feeling was promptly forgotten.

 

“So what was all that about?” Whizzer said sharply when the kids had finally dispersed into the park, leaving the teacher to go meet up with a friend and the two of them with no one but each other.

Marvin turned to him and donned his most sheepish look. “What?”

“Don’t what me, Marvin. You practically ran out of the bus and have been actively avoiding me for the past ten minutes.” He put his hands on his hips, mouth twisted in a not-quite-pout.

“I just…” Marvin began, starting the sentence without knowing where it was going to end, “I didn’t like your patronizing attitude. Yeah,” He huffed, gesturing at the general space occupied by the man in front of him, “You intentionally embarrassed me in front of my son and then you patronized me. You made me look like some sort of…” _Like some lousy idiot who can’t even get a couple of kids to listen to him_ , he wanted to finish, but couldn’t on account of the sudden tightening of his throat. So he scoffed, feigning disinterest.

Something shifted in Whizzer’s eyes, then, and he promptly let his arms fall to his sides. And Marvin attempted to shrug nonchalantly, turning away his gaze to avoid those brown eyes as he realised with a sinking stomach that he actually cared what this man thought of him. He’d been so caught up in the feeling of butterflies that he’d forgotten that other, more frightening aspect of liking someone. Of _really really really_ liking someone.

“Hey…” Whizzer began, but Marvin interrupted him because if he didn’t, he would have to say things like “ _I’m fine_ ” or “ _I’m just tired_ ” or some other lame lie which would be so see-through that it would mean admitting defeat.

“What, don’t tell you’re cancelling our date.” It came out less light-hearted than he’d wanted, but he was honestly just glad it didn’t sound as wrecked as he suddenly felt.

The concern in Whizzer’s eyes melted away, slowly being replaced by amused surprise. “Bail on a hot _dilf_ like you? Marvin, I’d never.”

Marvin paused. “What’s a _dilf_?”

“Nothing. Let’s go!” And with that and his trademark smirk, he put a hand on the small of Marvin’s back, guiding him down Main Street.

 

Despite the hour-long waiting time, Whizzer convinced him to wait in line for some rollercoaster named the Kingda Ka. As if that name alone didn’t warrant extreme suspicion. And alas, the nearly 500 feet tall death ride rose up above them as they neared the queue full of bored looking parents and their excited and/or terrified kids. Ironically, Marvin felt the exact same fear stirring inside him as that little girl in front of him. He stopped dead in his tracks. “Whizzer, I’m not going in there.”

Whizzer turned on him, “Marv, come on! You’ll thank me later; it’ll be so exciting! I’ve been looking forward to this ride all week.”

Marvin hesitated, eyes shooting between the horrific freefall and his friend – who had just called him _Marv_ , by the way. The fact that it didn’t annoy him took him by surprise. “I don’t know, I just don’t love the idea of dropping in freefall to my death.”

But now Whizzer was giving him an actual pout, lips slightly parted under big puppy-eyes, and Marvin knew he’d lost this battle before it had even begun.

“Okay, fine.” He grumbled, holding up a finger, "But you have to promise to let me pick the next ride.”

In his excitement, Whizzer grinned and bent down to plant a chaste kiss on his cheeks. “I win!”

Marvin stiffened at the feeling, more or less in shock at the sudden intimacy. Whizzer just gave him a wink, and the next moment he was grabbing his arm and pulling him forward until they were standing in line properly. When they shared another look, Whizzer was biting his lip in what he suspected was poorly concealed regret at his impulse show of affection. Marvin tried giving him a tight smile as silence hung in the air between them, and this time it wasn’t as comfortable. It felt charged with tension, as if any action taken right now would determine the course of the rest of their friendship. It got on his nerves to the point where Marvin couldn’t decide whether he wanted to kiss him or to run away from the guy, and as he mentally debated the question he scratched his neck for the umpteenth time in five minutes.

It seemed Whizzer was the one to cave first, however, and rather snobbishly at that. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“You keep scratching your neck. You getting the nervous sweats already?” It sounded more tense than his usual witty tone.

“Since we’re thirty minutes away from certain death, yes.”

Whizzer raised his eyebrows and waited.

“It’s just this jacket. This is like, the second time that I’ve worn it since I bought it. I’d forgot it had this incredibly annoying label right in my neck.”

“Oh, let me.” Whizzer seemed to jump at the chance to do something and took a step closer to grab the fabric laying against his neck, brushing Marvin’s neck with his fingers in the process. (A delicate feeling at which Marvin _didn’t_ have to suppress a shiver, _really_.) “Ah, yeah you should have cut this off. I’ll tuck it in against your shirt for now.” His breath was warm where it reached his skin.

“Thanks.” When Whizzer stepped back, he added, “I should have never bought it, anyway.”

“Why not? You look great in it.”

Marvin scoffed. “Really? You don’t think I’m too old for this… motor cycle type jacket?”

Crossing his arms, Whizzer leaned back as he gave him a scrutinizing once-over. “Honestly? You can’t go much more downhill from that awful wash and wear I’ve seen you wear the last two times we met. But, you know, I wasn’t lying before. You really do look hot.” Marvin laughed, but Whizzer was insistent. “I mean it. Take it from a guy who actually has some devotion to style.” And ever the helpful narcissist, he gestured at himself to reveal to the other man what style really constituted.

“Unlike me, I take it.” But Marvin smiled as he said it, the compliment overwhelming him a bit.

Whizzer matched his smile. “Correct.”

And just like that, the tension was gone again. Or rather, had evolved into a better, more thrilling kind of tension.

 

Thirty minutes later they were riding one of the middle carts – Whizzer’s cheap effort at compromise – up the first slope of the rollercoaster, and Marvin was focused on trying to keep breathing more than anything when he noticed Whizzer next to him growing progressively anxious.

“So,” He heard him mumbling as he looked down the two-hundred-and-then-some feet beneath them, “This was a mistake.”

Marvin turned to him, stunned, “What? This was your idea. You’d better not be scared right now. You’re supposed to get me through this and… I don’t know, assure me we’re _not_ going to die.”

“Oh, I’m not scared…” Whizzer’s eyes moved between Marvin and the incredibly steep rails in front of them which they were moving up at an alarming speed, “I’m terrified. But that’s the entire point of a rollercoaster, right?”

Marvin gave him a look.

“It’ll be fun when it’s over?” He tried, to no avail.

As if to intentionally disprove him, the train finally came to a stop at the top of the climb, and in the calm before the storm they shared a look in favour of looking ahead of them. Marvin slapped Whizzer’s knee in a poor attempt to lighten the mood. “Well, it was nice to get to know you.”

Surprisingly, Whizzer laughed at him, and Marvin laughed back as they plummeted down at an amazing speed, hand gripping tightly onto Whizzer’s knee for the duration of the ride. The ride was just as terrifying as Marvin had imagined and more, and he could only breathe a sigh of relief when they pulled back into the little station.

“That was fun, right?”

Marvin looked at him, and it was enough to make Whizzer burst into giggles again. A surge of pride overwhelmed him at the idea of having made this incredible man next to him laugh like that, lips contorted and eyes nearly squeezed shut. The moment was soon brought to an end as a bored looking woman told them to hurry up and get out already.

Naturally, Whizzer insisted they take a look at the photos which had been snapped during the ride, and he feared the worst of the result. For once, though, that fear was proven wrong.

“There! Number three-four-seven!” Whizzer pointed out, and Marvin followed his outstretched finger with his eyes. The photo showed them both laughing, Marvin’s hand still on Whizzer’s leg, both with their eyes open and everything. Whizzer was looking straight ahead, but Marvin was glancing at Whizzer. He had been the entire time, if he was being honest. It was a little embarrassing, but he was for the most part still hung up on the fact that he actually looked relatively okay and _happy_ in a photo for once. _Much unlike your family portraits with your ex-wife and son_ , a little voice at the back of his mind helpfully supplied, but he pushed it away as quickly as it had come.

“Huh.”

In an even more surprising turn of events, Whizzer bought the photo. “For my scrapbook,” He declared, before putting the piece in his inside pocket.

“You’ve got a scrapbook? I thought that was something only reserved for lovestruck middle school girls.”

“Well, I do.” He hesitated before explaining, “It’s for my photography.”

“I thought you were a baseball coach.”

“Oh, it’s just a hobby. It’s… This is going to sound phony, but it kind of gives me the freedom to express myself, I guess. I love the experimenting with models and lighting and colours, and the search for that one perfect shot, and the rush of finding it…” He trailed off and looked away, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

Confused by the display of such uncharacteristic uncertainty, Marvin laid a hand on his arm. “That sounds amazing. To have something you can be so passionate about. I’d love to see your work sometime.”

“Yeah?” Whizzer met his gaze, eyes guarded.

“Sure.”

Whizzer nodded with that lopsided grin of his. “Okay.” Then, “Your phone’s ringing.”

“Oh, shit.” Marvin was loathe to admit he’d been too busy studying Whizzer’s eyes and perfect skin to hear his phone’s shitty speakers loudly play the intro to _Born To Run_. He managed to wrestle the phone out of his pocket just as the sound stopped, and he quickly unlocked the device. “Two missed calls?”

“Who’re they from?”

“Jason,” He realized, with a sinking heart. What if something had happened? He stopped dead in his tracks. The first call had been five minutes ago. Damn it, what if something had happened and Marvin hadn’t even picked up his phone because he’d been too busy _flirting_ with Whizzer? He took in a deep breath as he punched the ‘call back’ option on the screen, keeping his gaze straight ahead and starting to march back to Main Street as if on autopilot. He felt more than saw Whizzer’s eyes trained on his face.

“Look Marvin, it’s probably nothing.” Whizzer moved to put a calming hand on his shoulder, but Marvin took a deliberate side-step to avoid it. A sudden embarrassment for his own behaviour enveloped him, but he couldn’t help the annoyance he felt at Whizzer’s continuing proximity.

After an excruciating amount of time, the dial tone stopped and he heard the _click_ of someone on the other end of the line picking up. “Jason? What’s wrong?”

The sound of his son’s voice made his brisk step falter for a moment, “Hey dad, it’s nothing. I got lost, and then there were some kids that were mean to me but Shania found me and it’s okay now.”

“ _What_? What did they do to you?”

“It’s not a big deal, dad…” Jason’s voice was filled with a dramatic exasperation unique to the men in their family, but Marvin ignored it.

“No, it _is_ , Jason. Did they hurt you?” He flexed his left hand into a fist, ready to fight anyone who would dare touch his son.

“This one kid sort of pushed me to the ground,” Jason admitted, “But I’m fine now, I swear. I’m not bleeding or anything, and some security guard took him away. I only called ‘cause I was lost, but I’m not anymore. Shania’s here.”

Marvin pinched the bridge of his nose as he bit back an angry reprimand. “Okay. That’s good. Where are you?”

“Ugh. I just told you I’m fine, I don’t need you here.”

“Are you sure?”

“ _Yes_. Bye dad.” And with that, his son hung up on him.

“Okay.” He sighed, worrying his lip between his teeth as he slowed his frantic pace. Still feeling Whizzer’s eyes on him, he carefully examined his phone and slowly put it back in his pocket. “Jason says he’s fine.”

“See?” Whizzer offered, finally resting a hand on Marvin’s shoulder. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Marvin tensed under his grasp and he looked at him, swallowing down a sneer. He simply nodded, but as their eyes met Whizzer still retracted his hand.

He held his gaze for a moment before asking, “So, what did you wanna do next?”

“Um…” He looked away. It was hard to focus on such irrelevant things like theme park attractions with the mental image of Jason being pushed to the ground playing on repeat in his mind. He waved a hand in a dismissing motion. “Whatever. You decide.”

“Well,” Whizzer said with a small smile, “I think you look like you could use some ice cream.”

Marvin didn’t allow himself to hold Whizzer’s gaze for fear of feeling so damn _soft_ again. He couldn’t allow himself that, not after what he’d just let happen because of that exact feeling. So he just huffed out a breath in what could almost be described as a tense chuckle, hand clenching around the phone in his pocket, “Sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts in the comments <3  
> And as always, you can also find me on tumblr @scienceofdeducjohn :)


	3. Give In To Bliss (And Kiss)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The lesbians inspire Marvin to - as Whizzer would put it - just give in to bliss.

“Marvin?”

A familiar pair of voices called his name in unison as Whizzer and he turned from the ice cream cart, matching cones in hand. “Cordelia? Charlotte?” He spotted them sitting at a picknick table not ten feet away to their right and made his way over, letting each of them give him an enthusiastic hug. “What are you guys doing here? Oh, Whizzer, meet my friends Charlotte and Cordelia.”

“Great to meet you.” Whizzer shook their hands, “I’ve heard much about your cooking skills, Cordelia.”

“All good things, I hope?” She laughed, lifting one eyebrow as she shot Marvin a teasing glance.

Whizzer’s lies were as smooth as his hair and his attractive demeanour. “Of course.” He sat down next to Marvin. Cordelia sipped her coffee – _Coffee_ instead of ice cream because she was a fully functioning adult human being and it was only 11 am. Whizzer on his turn licked his chocolate flavoured ice cream indulgently, moaning softly at the taste. Marvin tried not to stare and wished in vain that he too had ordered a warm beverage.

Instead, he licked his own. It would be a shame to let it go to waste, after all. “I don’t know why I let him convince me to get ice cream at eleven in the morning.” He said, somehow feeling like he owed his friends an explanation.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you enjoy ice cream at all, let alone in the morning.” Charlotte said, sharing some sort of lesbian mindreading glance with her wife. Cordelia nodded, whatever that meant. Then she shrugged, “But it’s a theme park, the rules of America don’t apply here. You can do whatever you want.”

Marvin narrowed his eyes at her even as Whizzer hummed in agreement. “In that case, can I get some sort of magic spray or perhaps some pills or something that will make Jason be less into chess and more into doing his homework?”

Charlotte stroked her chin, pretending to think it over. “Jason, not obsessively playing chess? Never going to happen. Doing more homework? Also no. But you could have waffles for lunch!”

Marvin laughed. “Thanks but no thanks, I think I’ll have had enough sugar for the entire week after I finish this.” He pointedly leaned in to take a bite from his cone, but as he did so the treacherous thing toppled over and collapsed with his face before falling on the ground, missing his trousers by an inch. He sighed heavily in disbelief at his bad luck and simultaneously, everyone at the table erupted into laughter. “Really?” He asked Whizzer, who was currently throwing his head back in a fit of giggles, “You think this is funny?” On an impulse, he swiped his finger along his ice cream covered cheek and quickly leaned over toward Whizzer, who yelped in surprise at the cold smear that ended up half across his nose. Mouth hanging open, he seemed torn between shock and more laughter.

He turned to Marvin “You’re so lucky that didn’t end up on my Ralph Lauren shirt,” He ended up saying, then gave him a sly smirk as he reached up with a finger to his nose and proceeded to lick it clean. Marvin felt his own lips part involuntarily as his eyes followed the movement.

“Uh, Marv?” Cordelia’s voice broke him free off his reverie.

Marvin cleared his throat and tore his eyes off Whizzer. “Yeah?”

“There’s still ice cream on your face.”

“There’s…” And finally, the gears in his mind seemed to shift into motion again, “Excuse me.”

 

In the bathroom, Marvin played out the part of ‘guy who’s slowly going insane attempting to pull it together for the sake of at least appearing sane’ to perfection. He even did the splashing water in his face bit and gave himself a long stern look in the mirror. He was on the verge of giving himself a half-hearted pep talk when the bathroom door opened and another man came in, giving him an odd look as he stood with his face dripping and mouth half open staring at the mirror. It was at that point that he decided his friends were probably wondering what was taking him so long, and he made a quick exit.

“No, we actually met only two weeks ago,”  He heard Whizzer saying as he approached the table, Cordelia and Charlotte hanging onto his every word, “It’s actually a funny story – hey, Marvin, do you wanna tell them how we met while I go take a piss?”

“What’s this, some sort of interrogation?”

“We were just curious! It’s not like you have many friends besides us, or…” Cordelia trailed off, eyeing Whizzer who’d mercifully just walked out of earshot. “What even are you guys? Is he like, your boyfriend?” She seemed so excited Marvin almost didn’t have the heart to contradict her. Almost being the key word.

“What? No, why would you even – I mean that’s not at all what I need right now – and I don’t know why you would – really, that’s just ridiculous!” He spluttered, feeling a flush betray his own little monologue even as he talked.

“Oh my god… Marvin has a crush!” Charlotte shared an excited look with her wife, who squealed.

“No, I _don’t_. Crushes are for fifteen year old kids. And when I was fifteen I thought I was straight. So yes, maybe I like him. That doesn’t mean it’s some sort of pathetic crush.”

“You have a crush.” Charlotte simply repeated in that matter-of-fact tone she always used when she wasn’t about to budge on her opinion, “You’ve maybe never consciously experienced one before, but that doesn’t mean you can’t now.”

Marvin sighed, looking around to make sure Whizzer hadn’t returned yet and there was nobody else around that he knew, be it Jason or any of his classmates. He leaned in conspiratorially when he was sure it was safe, head in his hands, “He asked me out on a date today.” Peeking through his fingers, he confessed, “I said yes.”

Cordelia squealed again, even higher this time. Charlotte’s eyebrows shot up, impressed, before she narrowed her eyes at him, “So what exactly is the problem?”

“Jason.” When the lesbians didn’t respond, Marvin gestured vaguely but intensely around him, giving them a look. “Jason, obviously!” He hissed, “My son who is twelve years old and needs his father more than I need some… _fling_.”

“What are you talking about? It’s been two years since you and Trina split up. Hell, she got married during that time.” Cordelia said, softening her tone to add, “You haven’t even done so much as look at another man.”

“What? No, that’s an exaggeration, I’ve—”

“Had one night stands, yes. We know, Marvin. But those don’t count. You’ve got to… allow yourself to get back out there.” She reached out to hold his hand, squeezing it gently. Marvin bit his lip and closed his eyes briefly, not wanting to hear it. Because facing the truth meant facing the fear.

He opened his eyes at Charlotte’s voice. “You know she’s right, Marvin. You need to stop using Jason as an excuse to sabotage your own happiness. Whizzer seems to really like you, and you seem to be crazy about him too. Just go on that date and give him a chance, alright?”

“I’m not crazy about him.” Marvin retreated his hand to push it through his curls and fidget with the zipper of his jacket, already knowing he would hate how the words would sound as he spoke them, “But do you really think he likes me?”

Charlotte smirked indulgently at him. “Are you kidding? The guy practically gave you heart eyes every time he looked at you during those five minutes.”

Cordelia nodded, letting out a giggle, “Which was a _lot_ , by the way.”

Marvin hid his grin by letting his face fall in his hands again, sighing by way of distraction. “God, this is all so pathetic. _I’m_ so pathetic.”

“No you’re not.” Whizzer’s voice shook him from his indulgent wallowing, and he felt the tips of his ears redden as he looked up and into his eyes. “You’re pathetically bad at eating ice cream, though, I’ll give you that.” He grinned at him, radiant as ever at his own snappy jest.

Marvin couldn’t help but grin back. Maybe this wasn’t so bad. Maybe he could really give this a shot. If he was being honest, part of what scared him was the fact that Whizzer and himself seemed to connect faster and on a much deeper level than he’d ever felt with any other man (Not that he’d ever given them the chance). That feeling alone was enough to send him into all sorts of self-destructive behaviours, let alone in combination with his fear to hurt Jason ever again. Still, maybe his friends were right. Instead of voicing all this he wobble his eyebrows, “I’ve decided what we should do next.”

“Oh yeah? Feel free to share it with the group, Marvin.”

“We’re going to go,” He paused for dramatic effect, swinging one leg over the bench so he was properly facing Whizzer, “to the haunted mansion.”

“Are you sure you can handle that?” Whizzer teased, wasting no time in getting up and offering him a hand.

Marvin shrugged, and took it. “I think I’ll give it a shot.”

An uncoordinated and very unnecessary show of forces and a split second later, after Whizzer had pulled him up while Marvin had also been busy pulling himself up, Marvin found himself rather abruptly pulled flush to Whizzer’s chest, only their conjoined hands between them. Marvin stiffened and his breath caught in his throat as Whizzer let out a little surprised gasp, neither of them breaking eye-contact. He could feel the hear of the other man’s body, felt his shuddering exhale reverberate through his own ribs, and was made acutely aware just how high he would have to tilt up his chin in order to kiss him.

Nevertheless, it was Cordelia whom Marvin could kiss out of gratitude when she ended the strange and incredibly tense moment between them as she shouted, “Get a room!”

He tore his eyes off Whizzer, who was letting go of his hand and he took a step back, clearing his throat. “Oh, shut up! Are you coming, or what?”

Cordelia gave him a horrified look.

“To the – the haunted mansion…thing! Jesus, Cordelia!” But she just laughed at him, so he decided to give up, “You know what, forget it. We’ll just—” He pointedly ignored Whizzer’s giggles and started walking, “Let’s go!”

“Let us know how your date goes!” He heard Cordelia yell at his retreating back, followed by what must have been Charlotte – his only true ally, really – elbowing her, “Ouch! What was that for?”

Mercifully, Whizzer didn’t comment. All he did was smirk knowingly at him, but then what else was new?

They made it halfway across the park before either of them spoke again. “So you told them about our date, huh?”

Marvin sighed. “Yes. But in my defence, I had to if I ever wanted them to get off my back about needing to,” and he brought up his fingers to gesticulate air quotes as he tried to imitate Charlotte’s voice, “get back out there.” With a look at Whizzer, though, the effect of what annoyance was evident in his tone was weakened as his treacherous lips contorted in a lopsided answering smile.

“Well, I agree.”

“Yeah?”

Whizzer bumped his shoulder with his. “Yeah.”

Marvin shoved his hands into his pockets, ducking his head. Somewhere behind them, he heard the sound of a rollercoaster rushing down its track as children screamed. The sound was oddly similar to the anxious feeling wrenching his heart every time Whizzer touched him, smiled at him, spoke his name. He bit his lip, still mentally debating whether that sensation was welcome in the first place.

“Besides, I think they like me.”

“Well, of course they do. Everyone likes you. You’re Whizzer Brown, energetic and funny and painfully pretty.” Marvin explained simply, without giving it much thought.

Whizzer sighed dramatically, looking wistfully into the distance. “It’s a curse I have to bear.”

Marvin laughed.

“Wait a minute,” Marvin suddenly realized when they were about to be admitted into the small individual carts in the haunted mansion ride, “What time is it?”

Whizzer checked his no doubt designer watch, “Ten to twelve.”

“Oh shit!”

“Relax. So we’ll be a couple minutes late for lunch, what’s the big deal? I’m sure they can start lunch without us.”

Marvin shook his head, “It’s not funny to not keep your promises. We said we’d be there at noon, I don’t wanna look like another one of those uncaring parents.” _I’m not like that_ , he thought, _not anymore_.

“Oh, you’re one to talk.” Whizzer huffed, no doubt referring to their previous encounters at school. Still, Marvin couldn’t shake the purposeful sting of his words.

He pinned Whizzer with an angry look. “Hey, I am not a bad father.”

“Well, I am not either! I for one am a great dad. Being late for lunch with a bunch of teenagers on an excursion who don’t care if I’m there or not does not negate that!” Whizzer looked about ready to throw fists, but Marvin didn’t care.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t be thinking about that, but about setting an example for Shania.”

“What?” Whizzer’s eyebrows contorted, voice twisted with confusion, “Marvin, what are you talking about? I’m nothing but a great example. My daughter loves me. Maybe you should stop projecting your insecurities on me and start actually working on them yourself.”

“Newsflash Whizzer, the fact that she and all the other kids adore you doesn’t automatically mean you’re a great father.”

Whizzer looked as if he’d been punched in the face, huffing out a disbelieving breath as he retorted, “Well, it certainly helps! Seems like you have yet to learn that.”

“I’ve been trying!” Marvin yelled, hating how his voice cracked in the middle of the short sentence, “Whatever, Whizzer.” He’d been right the first time: he couldn’t do this, he decided. Not here, not now, not anywhere or anytime. God, and to think he’d actually been planning to go on that date with the guy. Marvin turned around and started pushing with more force than strictly necessary past the rather shocked people who’d been waiting behind them. “Screw this.”

“Marvin!”

 

Marvin had been sitting on the bench for twenty minutes before Whizzer found him, which meant plenty of time to agonize over their argument. In a fit of rage, he’d even called Char, who’d much to his dismay told him to suck it up and apologize since, as she’d cruelly pointed out, _this might be about the only man who’s actually shown more than a bit of interest in you in years_ and _you’re an idiot for driving him away even before the first date_. He’d hated how he hadn’t been able to fight that, so he’d just grumbled a vague reply and had hung up. Then he’d hurried his way to Main Street to make it just in time for lunch, just in time in this particular case meaning only five minutes late. Whizzer had been right, of course; Mrs. Santiago had told him she had everything under control, so he’d picked out a bench at a discrete distance from the group and resigned himself to twenty minutes minutes of self-indulgent self-pity. At the moment though, he sucked in a breath through his teeth and stood up as soon as he saw, “Whizzer.”

Whizzer crossed his arms, “Marvin. I called, but you didn’t answer.”

“You were right.”

“Oh.”

Marvin shrugged his shoulders, taking a tentative step forward. “I was being a prick. I know you’re a great dad. And… you were right. About my… insecurities, I guess.” He scratched his neck, letting it hang in defeat. “I just get so goddamn jealous sometimes. When I see you with Shania. Hell, even with Jason. I wish I could… And I’m working on it, you know. It’s just…”

“It’s difficult, I know.” Whizzer’s voice was soft and closer than he’d expected, and when Marvin looked up he saw that they were less than a couple of feet apart. “But Marv, I never said you were a bad dad. I can see how much you care, how much you try.”

In lieu of replying, Marvin nodded with a tense smile. “I don’t even get why you came back. I should be the one apologizing.”

Whizzer gave him a little nod in return. “Yeah, you should. But Shania has my lunch.” He gestured to somewhere behind Marvin, and he looked over his shoulder to see her sitting on the edge of the fountain, chewing on a sandwich in sweet oblivion of their dramatic falling out.

“Oh. Right.”

Whizzer looked like he was about to go fetch his lunch when he opened his mouth again at the last second, peering at him with curious eyes. “Was that why ran out on me earlier, in the bus?”

“What?”

“Was it because you were angry at yourself?”

Marvin bristled at the surprising bit of insight, and had to remind himself to unclench his jaw. “Well, can you blame me?” He shook his head at himself, taking a second. “I meant… Yes. Okay? It was a shitty thing to do.”

“What, you fleeing me or me playing games with you?” He had the decency to look slightly embarrassed at admitting his own fault.

Marvin scoffed. “Both.”

“That’s fair.” Whizzer smiled, and Marvin hoped that meant forgiveness, “Listen, you can’t go on comparing yourself to the best.” And he gestured to himself with one hand, chuckling, before he grew serious again, “But honestly, from what I can tell you’ve done a pretty good job with Jason.”

Marvin followed his gaze; his son was talking to Shania with excitement. She was nodding along gravely with his speech, which was unquestionably something to do with Star Wars.

“See? Even my daughter seems to agree. And between you and me, she’s very critical.”

“Thanks.” Marvin smiled in spite of himself, then said something he’d regret for the rest of the trip. “I appreciate it, Whizzer. And I think you’re right. I have to work on it. And for that, I should really give him all my attention right now.” He watched as Whizzer’s smile fell apart, just like that.

Pressing his lips together in a thin line, Whizzer nodded. His eyes were distant but his voice shy as he asked, “I understand. But we can take things slow if you want? Or –” He took a deep breath, “—not at all if you --?”  

“No! I want to. I want to give this a try. I mean, I still can’t believe someone like you actually asked me out, but… Look, can you give me the day to think about it?”

“Fine.” Whizzer said with a tone that Marvin couldn’t quite interpret, and leaned in before walking away, “Choose wisely.” (Marvin did definitely not stare at his ass as he sauntered over to his daughter.)

 

A small half our later, they were standing in line for the Haunted Mansion once more, presumably because Whizzer was bored and there was no one else here that he could go with, and so he’d dragged Marvin back to the cursed ride after he’d spotted the short waiting time on the board earlier. Marvin carefully maintained a small distance between them, the space brimming with unresolved tension. Whizzer would shatter it with the occasional dirty joke, leaving Marvin tro try his best to laugh along, mind racing. He only had a few more hours to make up his mind, and no plan whatsoever. At present, Whizzer was leaning against the wooden fence just before the entrance to the building. A sign to their right indicated a remaining waiting time of five minutes. It wasn’t nearly enough for Marvin to admire how Whizzer’s hair swished around in the cool breeze, how his body arched forward from where his elbows rested on the wood. _This has to be intentional_ , Marvin thought. Whizzer knew exactly how good he looked with his stupidly big arms and flat stomach and smooth chest, a tiny preview of which was offered where the top buttons of his shirt had been undone. He’d donned his aviators, which made him look even more like the pretty boy that he was.

“Enjoying the view?” Whizzer’s grin was blinding in its sheer flirtatious confidence. He’d been right, then; Whizzer was doing this on purpose. He had to give it to him, though; the man sure knew how to impress.

Laughing nervously, Marvin grinned back. “Very much.”

Whizzer stood up, the motion bringing him very close very suddenly. He murmured, “You know, Marvin, the last time a guy looked at me like that he took me home after a single drink.”

He just swallowed and looked up at him, feeling dizzy with the swirl of anxiety and intrigue and _want_ stirring inside him.

“So,” Whizzer practically purred, placing a hand against his chest, “Made up your mind yet?”

Marvin opened his mouth.

“Let’s keep it moving, people!” A shrieking teenager behind them shook both men out of their reverie, making Marvin step back.

Whizzer sighed, throwing the kid an angry look. Probably. Marvin couldn’t be sure on account of his douchebag sunglasses still gracing his pretty face. He opened his mouth – undoubtedly to toss him a nasty remark – but Marvin grabbed his wrist and pulled it until they were standing properly in line again. “Loser.”

Marvin had to stifle a laugh at the childish insult Whizzer muttered under his breath, apparently without much success.

“What?”

At his whining question, Marvin looked at him, and on a whim stole his sunglasses from his nose before Whizzer could react. “You know these sunglasses make you look like a douchebag.” It was less a question than a statement of fact which, not wholly unexpectedly, Whizzer rolled his eyes at.

“I know.” And he pulled them from Marvin’s grip. “It’s called style. Remember? The thing you admitted only hours ago that I know more of than you?”

Marvin shrugged. “I just like your eyes. Seems like a waste to hide them.”

A surprised laugh escaped Whizzer’s lips. “Alright then.” He folded the glasses in question over his shirt and put his hands in his pockets. “You happy now, Marvin?”

Marvin’s breath caught in his throat suddenly. Because that was all it took. That trademark teasing voice saying his name, that genuine small smile reaching his eyes and making them sparkle.

“Marvin?”

That was all it took, apparently, for Marvin to step over the edge and fall in love.

A strange sense of calm came over him at the realization. So he just nodded, and then he made up his mind. For once in his life, he was going to make a decision that wasn’t borne out of desperation, one that was selfish, yes, but also _true to himself_. He took a shuddering breath, trying not to grin from ear to ear as he moved forward in line. He pretended not to see Whizzer giving him a weird look and clambered into the little individual two-person cart, the other man close behind him.

“Well, here we finally go.” Whizzer said as they were sent into the darkness, the noise from the queue mercifully dissolving behind them.

“Yeah.” Marvin looked at him, “Here we go.” He looked behind him impatiently until they were completely enveloped in the dark, and there were no more whining children in sight. It was now or never, he thought, ignoring the little voice in the back of his head telling him this was a stupid impulse decision.

A skeleton jumped out of the wall beside them, and Whizzer grabbed Marvin’s thigh, letting out a mildly convincing shriek. Marvin didn’t react, too busy worrying as he covered Whizzer’s hand with his own.

“Whizzer.”

Something in his tone made Whizzer’s face shift immediately, and his eyes flit between their intertwined hands and his eyes, silently waiting.

“Did—” He cleared his throat, shifting in his seat so he was facing Whizzer as best as the steel bar in front of them allowed, “Did you mean it? What you said about being okay with taking things slow?”

Whizzer opened his mouth but hesitated, and Marvin used the pause to his advantage, continuing before he could start answering.

“Because I don’t think I want to. I want to do this.” And he leaned in before he could think better of it, softly brushing their lips together. It sent a shiver down his spine, and he shuddered out a breath as he felt Whizzer’s free hand land on his neck, thumb against cheek. He pulled back to gauge Whizzer’s reaction; his half-lidded eyes fluttered open. God, he was pretty.

“Marvin.” He murmured, pulling him back in for another kiss. Soft at first, it quickly evolved into something deeper that provoked a surprised moan from the back of Marvin’s throat. Whizzer shifted closer towards him until their legs were pressed together, one hand moving up Marvin’s thigh and the other carding through the curls at the nape of his neck. It was all Marvin could do not to gasp at the overwhelming sensations. It all just felt so impossibly but unshakingly right in that moment he felt like he was floating, the concept of time and place completely lost on him.

That was, until the cart took a sudden right turn and Whizzer fell against his side, abruptly breaking the best kiss of his life. He let out a comically shocked yell, and Marvin attempted to steady him by grabbing his arm and pushing him back slightly. “Hey.” Their eyes met, and Marvin was about to burst out laughing while Whizzer was about to lean in again, still breathing heavily, when a pair of black curtains parted in front of them and they had to blink against the light ambushing their eyes. They’d barely come to a stop when Whizzer finally looked at him again, something akin to resolve in his eyes. His tongue darted out between his lips to wet his already shining lips before he grinned a mischievous toothy grin. The next moment he was grabbing a hold of Marvin’s wrist and pulling him out the cart and across the platform, and Marvin had to take care not to stumble and fall over his own feet. “Whizzer, wait!” Marvin gasped as they made it off the platform, legs still practically shaking from their first kiss. It was an understatement to say he wasn’t exactly in the mood to go for a damn run. Mercifully, Whizzer quickly pulled him off the path and out of sight around the corner of the building and Marvin came to a crashing stop against him. Whizzer handily made use of the momentum to pull him in for another kiss, both hands cupping his cheeks as he tilted his head to part his lips. His own hands travelled along Whizzer’s side and up his back, over his broad shoulders, then down to rest against his waist. He kissed him back with an embarrassing amount of desperation, walking them backwards until he had Whizzer pinned against the wall. He felt fingers stroking through his hair, moving up and down his neck, and lips kissing just like _that_ which made Marvin think he was genuinely going to lose it. “Whizzer.” He whispered, leaning his forehead against Whizzer’s so they were regrettably apart again, except that it came out more like a groan and _fuck_ that just went on to prove his point didn’t it? When he opened his eyes he saw the man grinning at him as if he’d just been told he’d won the lottery, and he promptly lost his train of thought. “Fuck.” He breathed.

“You? I’m trying to.”

Marvin blinked. Let out a surprised laugh as the stupid joke registered, and leaned back. “Well, I for one am trying not to. Not at a theme park, of all places. I have some dignity, believe it or not.”

Whizzer leaned his head back against the wall, and let out a satisfied sigh. “Or not.” He looked very pleased with himself as Marvin let himself be pulled forward by the lapels of his jacket until their lips brushed once more against each other, softly and only once this time. Hands still loosely gripping the black leather, Whizzer smiled down at him. “Told you the Haunted Mansion deserved a second chance.”

“To be fair, it was my idea in the first place.” Marvin took a step back and beckoned for him to follow with his head, “Come on, I don’t want to be caught trespassing.”

“Alright, old man.” Whizzer joked, grabbing his hand to lace their fingers together. “Lead the way.”

The path led them further down the exit of the ride, and Whizzer halted when they reached the photo stall, tugging at his hand so he could take a look without letting go of him. “Oh, that’s hilarious.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to buy this one too, it’s just a waste of money–” Marvin cut himself off mid-sentence when his eyes landed on the screen displaying their photograph. It showed the two of them mid-kiss; Whizzer’s hands were tangled up in Marvin’s hair, his body leaning so close to Marvin he was practically in his lap, and both their eyes were closed in concentration. “Well, that’s embarrassing.”

“Hello, sir? Yes, I’ll have that one, please!” Whizzer pointed to the picture in question with enthusiasm, giving no reaction to the salesman’s judgemental double-take other than a proud grin. It made Marvin unconsciously puff out his chest a little. “Thank you very much.” He threw some bills at the man and stuck the envelope next to the one from that morning.

“Let me guess, for your scrapbook?”

“Yes. I was thinking of titling it: _Marvin’s best kiss of his life starring the amazing Whizzer Brown_.”

Marvin gave his hand a sharp tug which brought Whizzer’s chest flush against his own. He tilted his head up as if going for a kiss, but instead murmured against his lips, “What about: _Marvin getting Whizzer squirming in his seat within two seconds of their first kiss_.”

Whizzer laughed. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“It’s the truth.”

Shrugging playfully, Whizzer started to lead them down the path again. “Okay, I’ll give you that. But for the record, it wasn’t just me.”

Marvin didn’t even feel like denying that; there was no point in such an obvious lie. He just smiled and swung their hands back and forth between them, marvelling at the feeling of Whizzer’s soft hand in his. They walked through the park with no direction in mind until finally they bumped into the lesbians, whose eyes immediately sprung to their conjoined hands.

“Well well well, seems like someone took our advice.” Charlotte said smugly, crossing her arms.

“Ah, so it’s you I have to thank for his change of heart.”

Marvin gave Charlotte a warning look despite Whizzer’s playful voice. As usual, she ignored him.

“You’re welcome. I guess not even Marvin can withstand the persuasive powers of us lesbians.”

Whizzer chuckled, “I’m starting to like you guys more and more.” He gasped suddenly, squeezing Marvin’s hand, “We should go on a double date sometime!”

Cordelia brightened, “Ooh fun! We’ve never been on a double date with Marvin. We should host so I can cook for you guys!”

The comment led to a rapid chatter about Delia’s profession, and Marvin couldn’t help but smile as he watched his date suck up to his best friends at record speed. He only hoped Char and Delia wouldn’t choose Whizzer over him should they ever break up.

“So, do you got any plans yet for tomorrow?”

“Hm?” Marvin tore his eyes off Whizzer and his mind took a second to register the question, “No, not yet. First I was thinking dinner, but I don’t want it to be too much of a thing, you know? I want to do something fun. But then, coffee seems like it’s not enough.” He trailed off, frowning in careful deliberation.

Charlotte smiled fondly at him. “Relax, Marvin. I’m sure whatever you do, it will be fine.” After a second, however, she grimaced and added, “But yeah, you should definitely do better than just coffee.”

Marvin nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, he vaguely registered Whizzer reaching into his inside pocket to produce a piece of photo paper. He groaned in anticipation, watching Charlotte’s interest being piqued by his reaction. Whizzer was grinning at him as he handed the picture of their little make-out session to the women, and Marvin just buried his face into his shoulder. His very muscular shoulder. Maybe he’d just live here, plastered against Whizzer’s impressive body never to resurface. It sounded rather attractive; there would be no need to face the world a single day more. Inhaling Whizzer through the fabric of his short-sleeve button-down, he heard Charlotte’s surprised laugh ring in tune with Cordelia’s high pitched. “You guys didn’t!”

Marvin finally leant back. Whizzer was nodding proudly at the photographic evidence of what was admittedly a bit too much PDA. Not that the other visitors had been able to be annoyed by it, what with it having been in a dark ride. “Oh we did. You should blame him, though, he kissed me first.”

“Yes. And then you kissed me back. Like _that_.”

Whizzer’s eyebrow shot up unto his hairline. “Like _what_?” He teased, bumping into him with his elbow.

Marvin mockingly echoed his tone in a wordless sound, elbowing him back; Whizzer jumped away, letting go of his hand in the process but letting out an amused giggle at Marvin’s response.

“Oh, you wanna fight me for kissing you back? Come on then.” Whizzer said, attempting a hilariously bad karate kick, “Hey! Don’t laugh! You know, for your information, I’ve been taking karate lessons for almost a year now and the teacher says—Marvin, stop laughing!”

“Sorry, it’s just…” And he mimicked Whizzer’s kick, doubling down in giggles again. A moment later, he felt rather than saw a set of strong hands on his shoulders, making him look up into Whizzer’s affronted-slash-amused eyes.

“Are you done?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“Oh, you’re sorry?”

“Yes! I’m sorry, okay?” Marvin laughed, standing on his toes to place a quick peck on his mouth. “I swear I’ll never make fun of your karate moves again.” He murmured solemnly, feeling a smile form on Whizzer’s lips as he gave him one last kiss (he couldn’t resist). “You happy?”

“Hmm. I’ll take it.”

“Petty.”

“Rude.”

“You guys,” Cordelia waved the photo between their faces to get their attention back, “We’re still here. We can see you.”

 

Before returning to the fountain where they were to meet up with Mrs Santiago and start the ordeal of taking the kids back to school, they agreed to keep things quiet for now. After all, they didn’t want Jason or Shania to have to process something that had only just begun, that was still so uncertain. Still, Marvin was tentatively allowing himself to be optimistic, though he would never admit it aloud. He untangled his fingers from Whizzer’s and gave him a smile that Whizzer was already returning. “I had a lot of fun today.” _With you_ , he didn’t add.

“Me too. Can’t wait for tomorrow. Let me know when you’re picking me up?”

“Oh, so I’m the one picking you up. I see how it is.”

Whizzer shrugged, “What can I say? I like my men to be the assertive type.”

“And bad at fashion?”

“Now, that’s just something I’m barely tolerating. But judging by your choices today, I’d say you’re improving. Guess I’m already rubbing off on you.”

Marvin swallowed down a bad joke at his choice of words. “I guess so.”

Most of the kids had already gathered when they arrived, and it took them only another ten minutes before all the boxes on the name list were checked off. The short walk back to the bus went smoothly, most of the kids being exhausted after a day on their feet. Jason was dragging his feet as Shania yawned next to him. Marvin met Whizzer’s eyes as they turned to each other at the same time; his eyebrows creased in affection at the sight of their kids contented fatigue. Marvin felt something warm unfurl inside his stomach.

The ride home was uneventful and most of it they spent reading; Marvin Hamlet, Whizzer his Instagram comments. Marvin had learned today that Whizzer had gained a fair share of followers posting his photography and the occasional picture of himself working out (something he called “thirst traps”, which had inspired Marvin to make a mental note to browse social media more often after all). At one point, Whizzer had closed his eyes and had fallen into blissful sleep, judging by his slack, tranquil features (that Marvin had at no time spent ten minutes straight studying). So when he felt his head land on his shoulder, Marvin smiled widely and closed his own eyes, just for a minute or so, he thought. He didn’t know he would end up falling asleep until Whizzer stirred against him, and he blinked awake, momentarily disoriented at the feeling of another man leaning against his body.

“We’re here.” Whizzer’s voice was rough with sleep, and he stretched.

“Hmm. You fell asleep.”

“You too.”

“You wanna go and talk to the kids this time or do you insist that I suffer a second time?”

Whizzer rolled his eyes and stood up, leaning his knee on his seat so he could turn around and face the class. This time the only answer he got was quiet and mumbled, and the kids slowly but obediently trailed out the bus.

“Well.” Marvin said as he walked up and down the bus to check for any belongings that may have been left behind, “We survived.”

“And more than that,” Whizzer walked up to him until he towered above him, blocking his path, “Which I’m sure we’ll continue tomorrow.”

“Yes. I’m looking forward to it.”

Whizzer smiled and let out a soft sigh before he finally leant down to kiss him. Marvin just hoped the tinted glass would be enough to shield them from Jason’s view, but he couldn’t bring it up to feel worried. Not with Whizzer’s lips against his. Too soon, he broke away. “See you tomorrow then, Marvin.”

“See you.” Marvin grinned. He let out a disbelieving sigh when Whizzer stepped out, giving himself a minute to gather the energy to try and lose the giddiness he felt coursing through his veins before he was to face his son. After a full minute, however, he gave up; he guessed that the feeling was here for the long haul. In that moment though, he didn’t care.

For the first time in months, he felt blissfully content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap, folks!
> 
> I had so much fun writing and editing this, and I just hope everyone who's still reading liked it! Please don't hesitate to let me know what you think in the comments (or on my tumblr @scienceofdeducjohn)! :)


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